Pneumatic piano-player action.



H w. A. KRUK. PNEUMATI'C PIANO PLAYER ACTION.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 24. 1914.

Patented Sept. 14, 1915.

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f INEYS W. A. KRYUCK.

FNEUMATIC PIANO PLAYER ACTI0N1 `APPLlcATloN 111.511 juLY24. 1914.

Patented sept. 14, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Il l l l l] HNEYS V www WTNESSES ,f

W. A. KRUCK.

PNEUMATIC PIANO PLAYER ACTION.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 24, 191.4. 1,153,554. l Patentedsept. 11, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

v III" WALTER A. KRUCK, OF NEW YORK, N. yY.

PNEUMATIC PIANOTLAYEE ACTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 14, 1915.

Application filed July 24. 1914: Serial N0. 852,827.

, To all 'whom t may concern pniiniatically operated devices and the.iin- Be it known that I, '.iinniz A. KRUCK, a citizen ot' the UnitedStates, residing in the borough of Brooklyn ot' the city of New York, inthe county of Kings, in the Statel of New York, have invented certainnew and useful' linproveinents in Pneumatic Piano-Player Actions, ofwhich the following is a speciiication, reference being had to theaccoimianying drawings, which 'form a part hereof.

The object ot' this invention is to improye and simplify theconstruction of the pneumatic player actions which, under control ot themusic sheet through the tracker-board, act selectively on those deviceswhich are f directly concerned in the actuation ot the/ hammers anddainpers and, in an ordinary piano, are actuated by the fingers ot theperformer through the intermediary of the usual/ /piano keys andabstracts, both the ger operated devices usually acting uponthe'wippens. The ultimate purposes in view are vei'nnpactness otstructure, facility in assembling, reduction in the liability ltoleakage, and improvement in operation.

The'invention is particularly concerned with the construction of thevalve-hoard and its associated parts and with the construc-y tion ot'the mechanical connections ot the pneumatics.

The invention will be more Jfully eX- plained hereinafter with referenceto the. aC- conipanying drawings in which it is illustrated and in whichFigure. l is a view in vertical section of so much of a player pianoaction as is necessary to enable the invention to be understood, theplane ot section being` indicated by the bi'oken line 1 1 ot' Fig. Fig.2 isa partial and broken view, in front elevation, ot' the parts shownin Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a detail 'View in section on the plane indicated bythe broken line 3 3 oi Fig. 2. Fig. -l is a view in elevation ot' thevalve-board and some Ot' its connections, with a portion of the innerwall removed on the plane indicated by the broken line '-t--JL oi Fig.B, looking to the right. Figs. 5 and l'are detail views of themechanical connections between the lower ends ot' Vthe abstracts andtheplayer-pneumatics. Figs. 7 and l8 are detail views of theconnectionsbetween the pivoted guides tor 'the abstracts andx the board by whichthey are supported.

The hammer action, including the hammers a, the Jacks and the wippens c,with the back checks (l and the damper levers c,

the finger keys j' and the extensions all' with their variousvappurtenances an'd appliances, may be constructed and arranged in anyusual or suitable manner. The wippelis are extended slightly, also asusual, for coperation with the abstracts i, which are guided by pivotedguides i and are pivotally connected with the movable members of theplayer-pneuinatics 71;.

Each pivoted guiding arm z' is-forked at its outer end, as shown ifiFig. 7, and receives, in suitable sleeve washers l1",.'the ends o/f thepivot pin To permit the ready assemblage ot' the parts each pivot pin issupported by an arm if ot a guide plate z'f, which may be suitablysecured to the valveboard. The ai'in i is notched on its under side,lnear its forward end, to receive the pivot pin i, whichqis held in placeby a clamp 0'". is slotted at its outer end. as at i1", to straddle asteadying pin i", which projects downwardly troni the plate 1", andisen- .gaged by a headed screw i which passes freely through the-arm iftroni above. By backing otl the screw i" slightly the clamp i" is perlmitted to drop so as to permit the introduction or removal oi the pin 2,and by setting up on4 the screw 1'. the clamp is drawn upward to holdthe pin securely in position. The depth ot the recess 5 is less than thediameter ot' the pin i: so that the pin may be held tightlyand withoutdanger of rattling.

As shown in' Figs. 5 and 6 the lower end of each abstract h is slottedvertically and is provided with a tightening screw Ii?. The. two part-sot the abstract, at each side ot the| slot k, are recessed as at It, andare provided witli a cloth lining' 71.4. rlhe lower or movable member ofeach player-pneumatic has secured thereto a projecting finger h5 whichcarries at its iorwai'd endfsecured in cheek pieces 7L, a pivot pin LT.`Backing oit` the screw i.2 permits the. abstract to be engaged with ordisengaged irom the pin i.7 and setting up on the. screw causes the pinto be engaged by theabstract movably but in such manner as to preventseparation.

The mechanical connections ot the pneumatic action having been describedit remains now to describel the construction of the pneumatic action sofar as itinvolves the player-pnenmatics, the valve-board and all of theplayer-pneumatics m1 1- for communication the valves, and especiallytheir connections. The particular purposes in view, in this part of theinvention are, as already indi,- cated` compactness and simplicity ofstructure, facility in assembling and in relnoval of parts for repair,and elimination of unnecessary joints and construction of airconnections so as to reduce liability to leakage.

As indicated in Figs. l-L, the playerpneumatics le, the valve-board orcommon wind-way fm, and the controlling valves u, are combined in aunitary structure which, With the abstracts kv and guides i, can beeasily removed and replaced. The. playerpnenmatics are arranged inseveral rows, as usual, the player-pneumatics of each row being securedto a common board which is itself secured to the inner wall m* of theyvalve-board m. are secured, as hereinafter described, to the outer wallm2 of the valve-board m. The twowalls m1 andm2 are spaced apart. yattheir upper and lower edges and at their ends, by spacing strips m. Theinterior Im" of the valve-board constitutes a wind-way 0r cl1ambe1\\'hich is common to all of the Controlling valves 7i and, through them,to

This coinmon wind-way orchamber is connected as usual to the wind-trunkand bellows system. these connections being well known and thereforeunnecessary to be shown and described herein.

, Between the inner and outer, or front and rear walls of thevalve-board m are placedtubular spacing blocks or sleeves yn fr and mf.These tubular spacing blocks or sleeves, which form conduits,are'usually formed of wood and are glued in place, the front and rearwalls' and the spacing strips being also held together by glue as wellas by screws mx. The inner or back wall fm. of the valvel board isprovided with ports m7, with which the sleeves 'mi' register, and withports fm? with which the sleeves lm register. The outer or front wall m2of the valve-board is provided with ports m", with which the sleeves m5register, with ports mw, with which the sleeves m register, and withports with the controlling valves n.

The controlling valves 'n' `\From the several ports or openings of theusual tracker-board 0 extend the usual conseveral player-pneumatics andthe corre-- sponding valves n through the ports m8, sleeves m and portsm10, sleeves m14 being secured by glue between the supportingboards Zand the inner or back Wall m of the valve-board, soV as to provide spacefor the passage of the tubes n* which form part of the connectionsbetween ,the tracker 0 and the valves n..

l Thedletails of construction of the valve 7L forni no part of thepresent invention. As shown" `clearly in|l"`i.gs.` 1 and 3 each valvepreferably comprises in its construction an upper cylindrical part n",having an apertured boss n2 to fit tightly against the'port m, with asuitable packing 'nf" interposed.y a lower cylindrical part n" having anapertured boss a to it tightlyY against the port m, with a suitableinterposed packing /nl' and having also .an L-shaped extension 'nl tolit tightly against the port m". with a suitable interposed packing n,and anintermediate part n. The top of the cylindrical portion a* is opento permit air at atmospheric pressure to enter the correspondingpneumatic and is provided with a downwardly extending valve-seat n. andthe intermediate part n" is provided with an upl wardly extendingvalve-seat n. A pistonJv al". mounted to move freely in the lowercylindrical part 121,4, has a-piston rod n which carries a valve n forcooperation with the valve-seats n and nl respectively.

As will be observed, there are no tubes which extend through thevalve-board and must be packed or fit tightly in order to preventleakage and for which tight joints must be made with the valves, butsuch conduits as must extend through the valve-board from front to backare formed by the tubular spacing blocks or sleeves m and m and thejoints between the valves vn and the ports lmf and mi and m, the firsttwo of which form parts of such conduits. are made by pressing thevalves 'n tightly against the front wall mt of the valve-board The endsofthe bosses n? and l11.5 1nd the end of the extension ai of each valveare finished oli' in a common plane. so that when the valves are heldtightly in position. with the interposed packing. tight joints areformed at all points. llach valve is held tightly against the front wallof the valve-board by a saddle or strap p which lies across the valveand is held to the front board by screws p.-

As will now be seen, the assembling of all parts of the pneumatic actioncan be aceomplished readily, the removal. and 1 replacement of the.valves when necessary can be effected easily andouickly, there is amini-l mum of jointsfwhieh can cause leakage. andv 'there are nop/jointswhich are liable to be made to leak b v the removal or replacelnent ofany of the valves. seen that vthe conununicatitm between the playerpneumatics and the windway, through the valves, is direct and free andthe danger of choking is reduced to a minimum. f

l\lor eover, it will be I flO It will be understood that various changesin details of construction and arrangement may be made to suit differentconditionsl vot use, without departing from the spirit of the invention,which is not limited to the precise details of constructionandarrangement shown and described herein, except as may be pointed-outin the following claims.

1 claim as my invention 1. A valveboard for pneumatic player ac-v tionscomprising a front wall, a back wall and spacing strips, said Awallsbeing provided with ports for communication with the controlling valvesand the player-pneumatics, and sleeves interposed between the front andback walls and forming with such ports conduits through the valve-board.

A valve-board for pneumatic player act-ions comprising a front wall, aback wall and spacing` strips, said walls being provided with ports forcommunication with the trzurker-boardv` the controlling valves and theplayer-pneumatics,` and sleeves interposed between the front and backwalls and forming with such ports conduits through the valve-board.

3. The combination with a tracker-board comprising a vfront wall, a backwall and spacing strips, said walls being provided.

with ports, connections from certain said `Copies of this patent may beobtained for ports to the tracker-board, connections from certain ofother of said ports to the playerpneumatics, controlling valvescommunicating with still other of said ports, and sleeves interposedbetween the front and back Walls and forming with some of such portscon? duits through the tracker-board for establishing communicationbetween the tracker-v board, the controlling Valves and theplayerpneuniatics.

et. The combination of a valve-board having; ports tor communicationwith tracker-board and with the player-pneumatics, a player-pneinnaticsupportingboard ha ving` conduits to establish communi- ."cation betweenthe valvehoard and the player-pneumatics, sleeves interposed between thevalve-'board and the supportingboard and forming parts ot said conduitsand also serving as spacing blocks to space the supportingboards fromthe lvalve-board, and connections to the tracker-board lying in thespace thus formed between the valveboard and the supporting-board.

This specification signed and witnessed this 23rd day of July, A. D.1914.

` VALTER A. KRUGK. Signed in the presence ot- CHAS. MHLENFELS, W. BxGREELEY.

ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.C. i

the f

